Single page card leaflet containing information on cervical screening for lesbian and bisexual women, depicting a black and white photograph of a person in uniform facing forwards in front of an image of a stage
Inscription
Based on a true story / "Lesbian & Bisexual women need cervical screening too!" / Are you ready for your / Screen / Test? / [in speech bubble] If you are a lesbian or / bisexual woman between / 25 and 64, you need to go / for regular cervical / screen tests! MYTH / "I'm a lesbian, so I don't need a cervical screening test." / FACT / All women between the ages of 25 & 64 who have a / cervix need to get screened regardless of who you sleep / with or who you've slept with in the past. / The human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, / can be passed on during sexual activity between two women, so / get screened - your cervix is worth it! / Don't get left in the dark... / [LGF logo] [contact details follow] [University of Salford logo] / [NHS logo] / Cervical Screening Programme
Production date
circa 2009-2011
Production place
manchester
Production organisations
LGBT Foundation
Associated organisations
Yorkshire MESMAC
Associated place
leeds
Labels
This poster is from a nationwide research campaign to raise awareness of the importance of cervical screenings for lesbian and bisexual women.
Until 2009, NHS guidance suggested that women who were not sexually active with men were safe from HPV transmission. This resulted in many health professionals telling lesbian, bisexual, and queer women that they did not need screenings, causing a wide gap between the uptake of screenings compared to heterosexual women. However, research has established that sex between women can result in HPV transmission and that all people with cervixes need screenings.
This myth overlaps with other healthcare barriers such as anxiety around homophobic experiences, resulting in continuing lower attendance by LGBTQ+ people. Sometimes, posters like this use language like ‘women’, which can leave transgender men and nonbinary people with cervixes feeling deliberately excluded. It is also likely that multiple forms of healthcare discrimination impacting Black and global majority queer women results in lower attendance, such as racist stereotyping, institutional bias, and not being listened to. The imagery of this and other posters from the campaign reflect a common trope in medical advertising of foregrounding white femininity in a way that does not actively overcome these barriers.
Lucy Cameron, Hidden Histories MA Project Researcher
